More than 150 Performance Music alumni returned to campus for the Performance Music Reunion Oct. 15 and 16 to celebrate director of Performance Music Cheryl Boga’s 35th year at The University of Scranton.
Boga was grateful to have alumni back in town. “They are the people that helped build the Performance Music program into what it is today,” she said.
“Our alumni helped build this, think through this, establish this, grow this. It wasn’t ‘me, me, me.’ It was ‘us, us, us,’ all the way through.”
The two-day event began with concert band, choir and string orchestra rehearsals, followed by a Mass at Madonna della Strada Chapel. Afterward, the entire reunion crowd sojourned to the Hilton for a celebratory dinner, followed by a reunion concert at the Houlihan-McLean Center featuring student and alumni musicians. After the concert, alumni gathered in The Rev. Bernard R. McIlhenny, S.J., Ballroom in the Patrick and Margaret DeNaples Center for a post-concert party featuring New York City-based big band Kyle Athayde Dance Party.
On the second day of the festivities, acclaimed organist David Lao Ball gave a presentation on the fully restored Houlihan-McLean Center organ before demonstrating its capabilities with a partial recital. A “Battle of the Bands” between The University of Scranton Student Jazz Band and the All-Star Alumni Jazz Band closed out the weekend.
“The kids were up against some of the ‘cream of the crop’ from 35 years of bands,” said Boga. “(They) did a really remarkable job, but the alumni band won on the non-existent ‘applause-o-meter’ probably because almost all of the people in the audience were alumni.”
Throughout the weekend, attendees had the opportunity to support the Performance Music program (scranton.edu/ givemusic). All the money raised through the still-active campaign will replace older band and orchestra instruments, improving the quality of current and future Performance Music students’ experiences.
